Steam power system



Jan. 19, 1932.

S. L. WYNDHAM ET AL STEAM POWER SYSTEM Filed Dec. 1, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 RTTO/P/VE/ Jan. 19, 1932. s. L. WYNDHAM ET AL S TEAM POWER SYS TEM Filed Dec.

1, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 72 UVV NTOAS Patented Jan. 19, 1932 STEPHEN LEYSHON- WYNDHAM' AND JAMES NEWZBY WYNDHAM,'OF CARDIFFQWALES STEAM POVER SYSTEM "Application filed December 1, 1928;'Seria1 No.- 323',178,and in Great Britain February 14, 1928;

' access to theboiler fire tubes behindthe same.

Forthis purpose the-heater may be journalled in: bearing brackets secured to the boiler front, a'ndt'angle strips may be attached to the h'e'a'ter t'o re'st against said frontin'order to-spa'ce-the heater therefrom so that it normally occupies :a position inclined to the boiler face.

The sinuous pipe unit constituting the heater may be builtupotany desired number of" separate pipe-lengths arranged parallel to one another in space-d relationship, and connectediby U shaped headers.

:I'fthesteam power'installation is'operated by'abattery of twoormore'boilers fitted with exhaust steam' h'eater units in'accordance with the present'invention,said units may be connected in series to form onecontinuous heater. @bviously, the outlet. of one unit would be connected with'the inlet of'the next unit.

Conveniently, the inlet to the heater is arranged to communicate witha valve'by 'means of which the exhaust steam from theauxiliaries can be directed, at will, to the heater or to a waste steam pipe leading, if desired, to the main-condenser,whereas the heater outlet is arranged to communicate with a pipe leading to the low pressure engine of the installation through a constant-pressure valve. Branches from said pipe may lead to the teed-water heater or the evaporator or both,

and'there maybe fitted a safety valve set to in-Flg. 1

Fig. 3 is a front view of the heater as ap plied to a twin boiler installation;

Fig. -shows one method of supporting the pipe unit on the boiler front inside the uptake;

Fig. 5 shows another methodof supporting the pipe unit.

Reference 1 represents the-boilor'shell and 2 represents the firetubes; the parts'ot' the boilers shown in the drawings are at the uptake, or front, end. The inlet 3 to the heater L is arranged to communicate with a valve 5 by means of whichthe exhaust steam coming from the auxiliaries by pipe 6, can be directed, as desired, to the heater by the pipe-301'- to a Waste steam pipe 7 leading for instance to the condenser. The steam passes through thesinuous piping of the heater 4 in the manner shown in Figs. 2 and 3; he hot gases from the fire tubes, instead oat-passing directly away to th-e'chimney, pass between andaround the pipes of the heater 4 thereby partially reheating the exhaust steam. After being thus heated, the steam passes by the heater outlet pipe Stoa branch pipe communicating through valves with the various appliances in which the reheated steam-is used. As shown in the example illustrated in Fig. 1, pipe 9 leads to the low pressure engine oi. the installation through a constant pressure valve 10,pipe 1 1leadstothe'evaporator; pipe 12 takes steam for general purposes such as heating cabins, etc; pipe 13 leads tothe feed heater. The pipe 8 may be provided with the usual devices such'as a safety valve and pressure-gauge.

With reference to Fig. 3 it will be seen that a convenient arrangement of piping for a twin boiler installation is that each of the two boilers is equipped with a heater in the form of a sinuous ipe unit arranged in four parallel rows in t e uptake, all the piping being connected in series. The adjacent ends of pipes are connected together by headers thus, a header connects the first and second pipe lengths at one end, a header connects the second and third pipe lengths at the 1 opposite side of the boiler face, and a third header connects the third and fourth pipe lengths at the same end that the first and second pipe lengths are connected. The adjacent ends of the first and fourth pipe lengths not connected in this manner constitute inlet and outlet connections, respectively, for one boiler piping'unit.

Two units built 11p in the manner described are mounted one on each of the two boiler fronts with their inlet and outlet ends adjacent, and the outlet from one unit is jointed to the inlet of the other at 22 so as to form one continuous heater having a single inlet 3 and a singleoutlet 8.

The units are each supported by brackets 14, on the boiler front, and are held in an inclined position relative to the fire tube plate by angle strips such as 16 (Fig. 4) which rest against said plate.

lVith this construction exhaust steam flows in a sinuous path first through one heater unit and then through the other to the aforesaid pipe 8 leading to the low pressure engine, etc. During the passage of the steam through the heater its temperature is raised by the hot boiler gases rising in the boiler uptake and flowing between the spaced pipe len hs constituting the heaters.

Pig. 4 shows an arrangement for supporting a heater unit so that it can be turned up, away from the boiler front to give access to the fire tubes. The piping is carried in a framework comprising frame members 17 bolted together and hinged by one of the upper pipes, or by bearing pins, in a bear ing bracket 18. The angle strip 16 as aforesald rests against the boiler face to hold the piping at an angle thereto in order to allow free exit of the gases from the fire tubes.

Another method of supporting the piping in the uptake and free of the fire tubes is shown on F ig. 5. The piping is carried in cast iron blocks 19 which are bolted together and the whole is held in position by being bolted to stay rods 20 passing through a fire tube and sup orted by an angle 21 attached to the smoke ox.

Obviously, the invention can be appliedto a single boiler or to a battery of more than two boilers.

A convenient mode of connection for the piping when applied to three boilers is shown on Fig. 2. As before the pipes are all connected in series, and the fourth pipe length of the first unit is joined to the second pipe length of the second unit, while the first and fourth pipe length of the second unit are joined respectively to the first and fourth pipe lengths of the third unit; the separate pipelengths are also connected by U-shaped eaders as before and the inlet and outlet connections to and from the combined heater are between the first and second units.

Although we have referred to heater units comprising four rows of pipe lengths, there may be any desired number of rows or return bends, or any desired number of layers of pipe lengths. Here the rows are disposed transversely to the direction of flow of the hot gases and the layers extend in the direction of flow thereof. 'VVhen a pipe unit composed of a plurality of rows and layers of pipes, is used, prefer-.

ably the layers of pipe lengths in each row are connected in series by split bends, while the rows are interconnected by solid bends.

\Ve have described our invention with reference to certain preferred embodiments but we desire it to be understood that modifications may be made and that no limitations upon our invention are intended other than are imposed by the scope of the appended claims.

\Ve claim V 1. In a steam power system including a fine-tube boiler, an exhaust steam heater comprising a plurality of separate pipe lengths and headers connecting the lengths in series, to form at least one sinuous pipe unit, said unit being located in the boiler uptake and extending directly across the discharge ends of the upper line tubes whereby the hottest flue gases issuing from the flue tubes play on an extensive surface of the pipe unit, and means for angularly supporting said unit on the boiler front.

2. In a steam power system including a battery of flue-tube boilers, an exhaust steam heater comprising a plurality of separate pipe lengths and headers connecting the lengths in series, to form a plurality of seriesconnected sinuous pipe units located in the boiler-uptakes and extending'directly across the discharge ends of the upper flue tubes whereby the hottest flue gases issuing from the flue tubes play on an extensive surface of the pipe units, and means for angularly supporting said units on the uptake ends of the boiler shells.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures.

STEPHEN LEYSHON VVYNDHAM. JAMES NEWBY WYNDHAM. 

